Nick Eatock
intelliflo, the global cloud-based technology solution for financial advisers, has today released Advice, evolved: A new era in Australian financial advice, a whitepaper detailing the major themes that will characterise the next five years of advice.
With only one-in-10 Australians currently advised, and most people unwilling to pay the cost for full financial advice, there is a critical issue facing Australia: how to get more people the advice they need, when they need it, at a price point they can afford.
The whitepaper is the product of a dynamic roundtable in Sydney late last year, featuring seven esteemed participants representing technological innovation, policy, advice and consulting: intelliflo CEO Nick Eatock, Adviser Ratings founder Angus Woods, financial services policy expert Keddie Waller, Product Rex founder Nick Topham, Finura Group managing director Peter Worn, ensombl CEO Clayton Daniels, and The Financial Adviser Scale Squad founder Adele Martin.
The aim of the roundtable was to move beyond the much discussed topics of compliance burdens and low adviser numbers, and instead visualise how the financial advice sector will need to articulate its value and purpose to a growing pool of potential clients as an intergenerational transfer of wealth gathers pace.
Nick Eatock, CEO and co-founder of intelliflo, said the whitepaper examines how the advice profession will move to become more customer-centric in the coming years, thanks to new technology, changing demands, and demographic shifts.
“Australia’s advice profession is at a crossroads. On one hand, technology is reshaping the delivery of advice, streamlining processes, and enabling a more scalable approach. On the other, the human connection –the very essence of our value proposition – remains irreplaceable,” he said.
“With that in mind, the future involves technology complimenting human advice delivery, so that advisers can reach more customers, while saving on time and costs. Clients, meanwhile, will receive a richer experience, with technological tools to keep them engaged over the longer term.
“Over the next five years, we expect the advice profession to reach many more Australians, as advisers embrace new technology, and customers navigate intergenerational wealth transfer.”
The whitepaper identified seven key themes for advisers and financial advice practices to consider:
- Changing the perception of advice: Working collectively as a profession to create universal understanding about how advice can add value and finding ways to continually improve the client experience.
- Adopting consumer-friendly payment models: Meeting evolving consumer expectations by embracing new methods of payment, including trials and a PayPal-style model.
- Technology as the foundation: Incorporating technology to slash costs, give clients flexibility and future-proof advice businesses.
- The next frontier: An adviser-led system: Creating an adviser and client-first model, which proactively advocates for clients’ best interests through self-regulation and product design.
- Reaching more Australians through scale: Using super funds and M&A activity to ensure millions more have access to advice.
- Building a whole-of-life pathway: Reaching consumers at critical life stages to ensure they are prepared for the future with quality advice.
- Engaging young people: Preparing for the biggest intergenerational wealth transfer in history by ensuring young people can engage with advice in a way they choose to.
For advisers, each chapter of the whitepaper features a series of action items to meet the emerging needs of the next generation, including using AI to further personalise the client experience, building professional profiles in innovative ways, creating free financial education content to drive prospects, and employing technology to engage clients with portals and customised alerts.